Recent Articles

Pianist Steve Barta continues his musical travels through Brazil that started with Blue River (Source Music, 2001), a collaboration with flautist Herbie Mann. Mann joined Barta on Another Life Brazil, performing his valedictory on the title tune shortly before his death at 73, in 2003. None other than Hubert Laws rounds out the wind parts on Another Life Brazil, but it is Mann's contribution that is the most compelling among an otherwise excellent Latin project. Another Life ...

Pianist and composer Steve Barta has released several fine holiday-related discs. To date these include That Christmas Feeling, Noel, Christmas Around the World, and The Twelve Days of Christmas. His Christmas offerings, especially the latter and this new recording, have absorbed a Bossa base that was very much in presence in his fine jazz release Blue River .

Three Ships concentrates on the more secular holiday songs. "I Love The Winter Weather/I’ve Got Your Love To ...

Steve Barta lands squarely on the Jazz radar with this acclaimed collaboration with Herbie Mann. I met Steve Barta this past Holiday Season. He was demonstrating his most recent self- produced release The Twelve Days of Christmas (previously reviewed in these pages). Barta was joined by the esteemed flautist, Herbie Mann on a very Bossa Christmas Song" on that outing. At the time, he told me there was much more of the same to be ...

Off The Beaten Path. Each year, I seek out new holiday music, usually in the jazz and classical realms. There have been several notable releases this year, including offerings by the Nagel-Heyer bunch and Cyrus Chestnut, among others. However, the music that immediately captured my attention this season I found being sold at a local holiday goods offering by the artist himself. I found the artist, Steve Barta, studied and urbane...like I was to find his music.